Why do you accept credit cards?
Is it only as a convenience for your customers, or are you interested in processing transactions at the lowest possible rates?
If the latter, and your accepting business-to-business or business-to-government transactions then you owe it your company’s bottom line to ensure these transactions are qualifying at Level II & Level III interchange rates (also know was Data Rate 2 & Data Rate 3).
Up to 90% of a businesses expense for accepting credit cards goes back to the credit card issuing bank, Not processors. This is referred to as interchange. Interchange is the same regardless of your processor or bank.
You can find the most up to date interchange rates on Visa and MasterCard’s website.
Why is Level 2 & Level 3 so important for reducing costs?
Commercial, Government and Purchase cards qualify 1 of 3 interchange levels. Level 1, level 2 and level 3. These levels vary based on additional transaction (line item detail) that is passed with the transaction.
- Level 2 can include Tax amount and customer code.
- Level 3 can include fields such as. PO #, Product description, Product code, discount amount, destination zip etc. Only Corporate & Purchasing cards on Visa can qualify; any MasterCard commercial card can qualify
You can reduce your interchange fees by as much as .90% vs. non Level II and Level III credit card transactions.
Revolution Payments Can Help!
Let us provide you with a no obligation review and show you how to process level 2 and level 3 data, so you can take advantage of these lower interchange rates and ensure your business is processing as efficiently as possible. Questions? Give us a call at 888 790 3450
PS: Level 3 credit card processing does require a payment gateway capable of capturing the additional level 3 requirements. Terminals will not support Level 3, however they can support the level 2 requirements.